'Tales of the Sissy' is a play on words related to Armistead Maupin's novel 'Tales of the City' which chronicles the daily lives of several seemingly unrelated people. Since my blog chronicles my daily life and I am gay (hence the stereotype 'sissy'), I decided to call my blog 'Tales of the Sissy'.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Monday, March 30, 2015

Walter & Marvin recently had baths. Marvin is very good about them now and tolerates them without resistance. Walter has not 'learned' this yet, and in the photo above he is trying to escape from the laundry sink.

Friday, March 27, 2015

We are preparing to redecorate one of our guest bedrooms. I feel like I've been saying this forever. But before we could begin, I needed to get rid of the large desk and the existing full size mattress and box spring. A couple weeks ago I successfully sold the desk, but have had absolutely zero interest in the mattress and box spring.

So I've decided to donate it. Its a little over 20 years old, but its only been as a guest bed and has probably only been slept on 3 or 4 times a year. The reason we're getting rid of it is because it is a full and the new comforter and sheets we bought are queen. Once the room has been painted we'll get a new queen bed on which to put the new linens.So my friend Bryan is coming this weekend in his pick-up truck to pick up the mattress and box spring and take them to some friend of his who runs a halfway house or shelter of some sort. I'm glad the bed will continue to get some use AND that it will get out of my guest room.

I'm taking a few days off work soon to paint and redecorate this room, and do some other projects around the house. Hopefully I won't have too many interruptions from work. Here's a sneak peak of the room's new design:

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Monday, March 23, 2015

The perfect accessory is one that will compliment the outfit, not distract from it.Apparently a handbag designer at a Madrid fashion show didn't want to risk that their models' outfits might distract from their handbags, so they had the models wear nothing at all.And the models carrying the handbags were male.That's right... nude male models carrying handbags down the runway. CLICK HERE for the NSFW video.

Friday, March 20, 2015

In appreciation for everyone's contribution to the team's success, my boss gave everyone a $50 gift card to a local spa/salon. Yesterday I decided to use mine and get a pedicure.I've never had a pedicure before, but my toe nails were due for a trim and I decided why not have someone else trim them, and get a nice foot massage afterward?

It was fine, but I probably won't pay my own money for future pedicures as I didn't find the treatment to be particularly enjoyable. My feet are very ticklish, and I'd much rather have a massage.After putting my socks and shoes back on, I was walking past some other customers when this unaturually redheaded customer looked at me and said "You look very familiar." She did not look at all familiar to me.

"Do you own a business around here?" she asked."No, but I live and work here" I offered. Since this is a touristy area there are lots of visitors here. I could see the wheels turning inside her head."What do you do?" she asked."I'm a real estate agent." I answered."Hmmm... so I am" she volunteered."Maybe I look familiar to you because you've seen my group's photo on a billboard, or on a shopping cart, or at the movie theatre." I suggested. She didn't acknowledge this possibility at all, but abruptly changed the subject."I have to tell you, you're really... beautiful... you know, just your whole... being... the way you are. And I mean this sincerely, with all due respect of course." she confessed.Huh??? I mean, how is one supposed to react to such a statement from a stranger???"Oh, uh, thank you very much!" I said."You're very welcome" she said. "It was very nice to meet you.""And you as well" I said, as I turned to leave.I don't know if she was drunk, or high, or maybe an angel from heaven. But it certainly was a strange encounter.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Last night Spouse & I met Steven for St Patrick's Day dinner. (Thad was busy and Joe P already had plans with other friends.) Steven & I had the traditional corned beef and cabbage, while Spouse had pot roast. I'm not a huge fan of corned beef and cabbage but I like it enough to eat it once a year on St Patrick's Day.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Monday, March 16, 2015

Fri evening after work we had dinner at home, packed our overnight bag, and loaded the dogs into the car. We arrived at Spouse's mom's house at 9:30pm. Unfortunately Walter got car sick (likely from his travel bag being too small and restricting his movement) and he puked inside his travel bag. Rather than try to clean it up, I decided to just throw the travel bag away when we arrived at Spouse's mom's house.It was about 97 degrees in her house. Not literally, but it felt like that. She's 85 years old and you know how most "mature" people are - they're always cold. Spouse sneaked over to the thermostat and lowered it several degrees to help make the house more tolerable to us.Sat morning Spouse, his mom and I went to our dear friends Kerry & Hugh's house for breakfast and the St Patrick's Day parade.

Spouse's mom. Not her real hair.

It rained off and on, but fortunately stopped raining for the duration of the parade. There were several other friends of Kerry & Hugh there that we knew, so it was fun to see them and catch up before and after the parade.

Later that afternoon Spouse & I stocked up on our favorite items at Trader Joe's. When we lived in VA we shopped there all the time, and really miss it, so we try and stock up when we are visiting. Spouse's sister and her 3 kids came over and visited with us for a couple hours.

Walter gives our nephew Eric some puppy kisses.

That night Spouse, his mom and I went out for Chinese food for dinner. Spouse's mom leaves off the 's' in the word Chinese so it comes out as 'Chinee', which always gives me a secret grin. But that night she also made me chuckle audibly when she ordered 'Compound chicken' rather than Kung Poa chicken.Spouse's sister invited us for breakfast Sun morning so we joined her family for a frittata, bacon, and orange rolls. Spouse's nephew was home from college for spring break so we got to visit with him too. Afterward we packed up our stuff, loaded up the dogs, and hit the road. We got home at 2:00.An hour later, a couple arrived at our house to pay for and pick up the desk I'd listed for sale.

I used to work from home and write my blog from this desk.

I'm so happy to get this behemoth out of the guest bedroom so I can paint and redecorate that room. The new scheme? Hollywood Regency!!That evening we had dinner with Joe P and Steven & Thad at their house.

Friday, March 13, 2015

So yesterday was a pretty terrific day.I went shopping for some new jeans. I can't remember how long its been since I bought new jeans, and with my recent weight loss (21 lbs so far thanks to Fit for Life) all my old jeans are just too big. Add to that the fact that several pairs were ill-fitting to begin with. It was definitely time for a new pair of jeans that fit.I stopped in at the Old Navy outlet store and went to the jeans wall. I was confronted with 5 different fits: slim, straight, boot cut, regular, and loose.

I don't wear boots and I don't want loose fitting jeans, so just for the hell of it I grabbed a pair of jeans in slim, straight, and regular cuts in my regular/most recent size and headed to the dressing room.To my surprise, all 3 were too big - even the slim cut! So I tried all 3 cuts in the next size down and to my utter shock - the slim cut fit the best!!This was so shocking to me because I don't think anyone's referred to me using the word "slim" EVER! Even as a kid I was chubby. My mom used to special order my pants and jeans from Sears in order to get the 'chubby kid' ones. I doubt anyone would look at me today and think "slim" either, but the proof is sewn right into the waistband.

Mind you, these are 'slim' cut jeans - NOT skinny jeans. I am a 51 year old man with enough sense to know that 51 year old men should not be wearing skinny jeans. I washed my new 'slim' jeans yesterday afternoon and decided to wear them to work today. As I was getting dressed this morning and feeling good about my 'slim' fit jeans, I decided to try on a belt I bought last summer on sale that just barely closed then. I put it on today and it fit terrifically!Its the little things in life, people.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Calvin, one of my faithful readers, asked for a Walter update. This caused me to realize that I hadn't posted any recent photos of him or written much about him lately. So here we go!

This photo taken in late Dec actually shows both Marvin (white) and Walter (tan) sleeping on my lap. I sitting on a chaise with my legs straight out in front of me, providing them with a nice, level 'bed'. Moments like this make me wish I could stop time.

I love the way 1 of Walter's ears stands up and the other 1 flops over in this photo. Unlike Marvin whose ears are always standing up, Walter's ears can be up or down at any given time. Maybe this is because of his age, I don't know, nor do I care.

In this photo Walter is sleeping in the 'crook' of my leg, which is bent at the knee. Such peacefulness and trust make my heart melt.But its not always so light-hearted around our house. This winter has been colder than usual and we've had snow accumulate on the ground 3 times in the last month, so we haven't been walking him. Without walks he doesn't get as much opportunity to expend pent up energy, so sometimes he playfully bites me, which hurts even though he doesn't mean it. His house training has been challenging too, but I'm hopeful that he will get back into the groove now that milder weather is here.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Monday, March 09, 2015

Last Thursday's snow resulted in my office opening 2 hours late on Fri. This was good as it gave me extra time Fri morning to clear off the cars and shovel a path from the door to the driver's side. I decided not to shovel the entirety of the driveways since the forecast was for much higher temps which would melt the remaining snow. That night we went to dinner with Steven& Thad and Joe P.

Sat I worked, and then we met up with our friends Vic & Mike for dinner. We had a good meal and a fun time together. After dinner we went to their house to see how they've furnished and decorated it. The last time we saw it was just a few weeks after they'd moved in. Their primary home is in VA and this is their beach home which I sold them.Sun we had breakfast with friends, and then took Marvin & Walter for a nice long walk. The weather was sunny and the temperature was in the 50s so the majority of the snow had melted. The boys absolutely loved the long walk! It has been too cold/windy/snowy to walk them in quite a while. Afterward we decided to take advantage of the nice weather by cutting back our rose bushes, which then lead to a major pruning of our crepe myrtle trees. We spent almost 3 hours outside doing yard work, but I didn't mind since it was so mild out. I had on jeans with a t-shirt and a light hoodie - that's it. We ended the day by meeting Steven & Thad at the diner and then watching our Sun night TV shows: Girls, Togetherness, and Looking.It was a nice weekend!

Friday, March 06, 2015

In preparation for painting and redecorating 1 of our guest rooms, yesterday I (mostly) cleared off my big desk and listed it for sale online.

I sat at this desk 5 days a week for several years when I used to work from home full-time. But now the large desk is just in the way. I bought a small mirrored chest to store the items from the desk that I will still need, like envelopes, stamps, tape, paper clips, sharpies, checkbook, and return address labels. You get the point. While sorting the stuff in the desk I took the opportunity to throw away a bunch of old papers and a few computer CDs. I'm really trying to pair down and hide the office stuff so this room can just be a guest room.There was a forecast for several inches of snow yesterday and in anticipation of that, the schools and even the state government was closed. First it rained, then we had about 30 minutes of sleet, and then the temperature went down and it finally started snowing around 2:30. It was my scheduled day off so the weather had no real impact on my plans for the day. Spouse & I met our friend Steven for lunch, since Spouse was off and Steven works nearby. We ended up getting about 6 inches of snow.

Yesterday I made some delicious homemade soup. Here are the ingredients:

1 can Great Northern beans

1 can navy beans

1 can garbanzo bean (or chick peas)

1 large container of chicken stock

1 bag of frozen "soup vegetables"

1 container of cubed ham

1 sprig of fresh rosemary

I combine all the ingredients into a stock pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and after about 10 minutes I remove the rosemary and turn off the heat. It is so easy and so delicious!

Earlier I wrote about Blogger's announcement that it would begin censoring blogs for nudity. Fortunately, enough blog writers complained that Blogger has decided not to implement their new policy. The banner message read "This week, we announced a change to Blogger’s porn policy stating
that blogs that distributed sexually explicit images or graphic nudity
would be made private.We’ve received lots of feedback about making a policy change that
impacts longstanding blogs, and about the negative impact this could
have on individuals who post sexually explicit content to express their
identities. We appreciate the feedback. Instead of making this change, we will be maintaining our existing policies." Needless to say I am very happy about this, not because I depend on Blogger for porn, but because Blogger began as an uncensored platform and I believe it should remain so.

Tuesday, March 03, 2015

Monday, March 02, 2015

While its certainly no secret that I do enjoy my cocktails, unfortunately I have not had any since Jan 4. You see, I started my Fit for Life eating plan on Jan 4, and while the plan doesn't specifically prohibit alcohol, I know that it contains a lot of calories. So I have voluntarily given up cocktails since the beginning of the year.How's the slimming regimen going, you ask? Well, I've lost 18 lbs so far. I lost 5 lbs the 1st week and 5 lbs the 2nd week, so that was great! The other 8 lbs have come off very slowly, but I knew that was to be expected. Doctors actually say that 2 lbs per week weight loss is safe and sustainable.Spouse and Steven & Thad are also on various weight loss plans. We have all experienced weeks when we've only lost 1 or 2 lbs. This can be very frustrating, especially if you've been "good" and not cheated on your plan. But I try to remain positive. I tell myself that if I consistently lose 2 lbs per week, in a year's time I will have lost 104 lbs!! That knowledge really does help me.I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to avoid alcohol. Maybe I will allow myself just 1 Cosmo per week (on karaoke night) and see if that actually affects my weight loss at all.

Who Am I?

My name is Mark and I'm the writer of 'Tales of the Sissy'. I am an out gay man, happily partnered since 1996. I'm a Washington DC native, now living at the beach in Delaware since 2007. Read my introduction here.